Technology

The excitement of creativity and innovation are inherent to the environmental movement to quest to find new technology that will save our planet and stave off climate change. It is often said that the country that develops the technology to usher the world into a new Green era, will emerge the world leader. This is the new frontier and scientists and developer are working furiously to find solutions. At a time when creativity is stratospheric, LuxEco Technology will blog the electrifying new trends, the pioneering inventors and the game-changing products that could (r)evolutionize our world’s use of energy, transportation, architecture, production (and everything else they can think of).

You can put more "green" into your pocket by taking advantage of do-it-yourself projects and making your own green technology.
By Derin Richardson, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant
You really don’t have to sacrifice your arms and legs to be eco-conscious. Seriously.
Strangely, people still subscribe to the notion that they must maim themselves to obtain quality products--green technology solutions are certainly no exception to this nagging fallacy. Amid the venerable do-it-yourself methods, paying a fortune for novelties like solar panels is pretty silly.

Biofuels changed his audience. After bringing music to the masses, green start-up owner converts his mission to bring alternative fuels to your car
Jeff Phillips - a D.I.Y Kind of Guy
By Jeff Phillips, Biofuel Engineer and LuxEco Advocate
biofuels_alternative_fuel_technology
My name is Jeff Phillips and I run D.I.Y Biofuels in Los Angeles.
I was once in the music biz, and was doing pretty well for myself, until I became more educated about the startling environmental problems that we are currently faced with.
So I basically left the rat race of the music industry after doing some research of my own into alternative fuel technology. Films like 'An Inconvenient Truth' and 'Who Killed the Electric Car' particularly affected me.

The Advent of Lignocellulosic Ethanol is a Biomass Boon
By Derin Richardson, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant
There are a myriad of alternative fuel breakthroughs that been discovered this century--hydrogen fuel cells, ethanol, biodiesel, etc.--but there is one, recently discovered energy source that you either may not have heard or know little of. Enter leaf biofuel.
As it is scientifically labeled, lignocellulosic ethanol is the progeny of refining biomasses such as wood, grasses and/or any non-edible parts of a plant. It is a potentially sustainable and renewable biofuel, like using vegetable oil to produce biodiesel, however the insubordinate and resillient nature of this biomass make it problematic for industrial applications.

Smart Grid Technology and Energy Conversation Make a Great Couple
By Derin Richardson, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
It’s the proverbial situation--someone is happily carrying out his/her daily routine when the mail, secretly harbouring a most ominous electricity bill, arrives. The bill is discovered, opened, and the crocodile tears start to flow all over again.
But "smart grid technology" could make energy conservation easy and cost effective.

Scientists with the National Institutes of Health are on a mission—being called the Human Microbiome Project—to find out what these microbes do exactly. Which ones are fighting for or against us, and how might they have the potential to counteract disease?

By: Bethany Colson, Managing Editor of LuxEcoLiving.com
What sounds better than clean, green, eco-conscious energy produced from the natural power of ocean currents in a way that protects the environment, promotes energy independence and sustains a local economy with jobs? Harnessing the power of the ocean to generate abundant renewable and sustainable energy sounds pretty good to me. Sign me up!
Ocean Renewable Power Company is one company that is looking to do just that. Using the same science and technology as wind turbines, ORPC has developed a modular system of Turbine Generator Units, or TGUs, that use rotating foils to power a central permanent magnet generator. While similar to wind turbines, this promising new technology offers exponential benefits as water is 800 times as dense and tides are much more consistent.

By: Annie Huang, LuxEco Living Marketing Assistant
Lighting of the Christmas tree is certainly an event that is embraced in major cities around the world. But what is more inspiring besides being part of these events, is to know that Brisbane Council put in a lot of effort in preserving the energy by adapting solar power to the shindy. Not only that, this tree has earned its name as the World's Largest Solar Powered Christmas Tree! So after learning from Jessica about the importance of having live pine trees at home, it's only another step to explore the implementation of solar energy at your residents. What a party it would be for your family and guests if they could bath in nature from your homes this Christmas!

By Jessica Borges, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant
MyBike is an electric bicycle retailer based in Boston, MA that provides an alternative mode of transportation that reduces individuals’ carbon footprints, as well as the stress and hassle of sitting in traffic. With motor vehicles as the single biggest source of air pollution it’s about time we find less abrasive ways to get around.

By: Molly Rovero, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Imagine a world without fossil fuel powered cars! This is what the Los Angeles chapters of the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Architects teamed up to do when they created Rail LA, a group dedicated to "healing the wounds of past infrastructure projects" and helping transition from "an automobile based society to a transit based one." They seek to raise awareness about the myriad of benefits that high speed rail can have for Southern California, such as a reduction in emissions, mitigation of traffic congestion, and countless other environmental concerns related to society’s daily reliance on fossil-fuel-powered transit.

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
At the March 2010 CeBIT, the world’s leading tradeshow in the digital industry, Global eSustainability Initiative (GESI) announced an important new member. Research in Motion, which makes Blackberry, will be joining the organization. That’s right, Blackberry is changing its color…to Green. The widely popular smart-phone maker has come under recent scrutiny for its practices, or lack thereof, regarding sustainability. One Greenpeace report stated, “the Blackberry Pearl, which lost a lot of points in the life cycle criteria and for poor energy efficiency, and did not even meet the Energy Star standard.”

By Lush Huxley, Editorial Assistant
Beth Nielsen Chapman is one such songwriter who has succeeded in the competitive field of modern music. You may not have heard of her, but her resume is stacked (as they say). She’s written for the likes of Willie Nelson, Elton John, and Mary Carpenter, and performed with country crooners Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt.
Remember the Faith Hill song “This Kiss?” Yeah, she wrote that too. Beth’s very well respected and established among the songwriting community in Nashville, TN, where she makes her home.
Her story is an unconventional one. In the 70s, Beth was being lauded among record company big shots as one of the songwriting world’s up-and-comers. Around 1979, her song “If I’d Only Known” appeared next to Bob Dylan’s “Slow Train” in the “Singles to Watch” section of industry magazines across the country. However, when her record failed to meet the expectations of the label, the big money people pulled the plug on her publishing deal. Perceiving her musical career as virtually terminated, Chapman entered a new chapter of her life as domesticated mother and housewife. But the songwriting bug stayed with her.

by Elizabeth Grossman, Author of Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry, High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health
via The Pump Handle
The American Public Health Association's (APHA) Occupational Health & Safety Section has announced the winners of its 2010 Occupational Health & Safety Awards. In a year that has been marked by what David Michaels, Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health, has described as "a series of workplace tragedies" - among them the deaths of 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch Mine and 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico - noting both the honorees, and those in whose honor the awards are given, is a reminder of the enormous work, courage, and long history of efforts to ensure safety at work.

By Jessica Borges, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant
We can all thank the sun for making trash disposal a more eco-friendly task; and while we’re at it, we can also thank the creators of BigBelly Solar Trash Cans. These solar powered beefy looking trash cans are sprouting up on street corners in several metropolitan areas with goals of being more cost, time and energy efficient.

By: Molly Rovero, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Early this year Motor Trend reported a new concept from GM and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), that debuted at the Beijing Auto Show. The new mini pod cars sought to address the transportation issues of the future. Stress that already affects the world's transportation infrastructure will continue to grow with the population to an estimated 8 billion people.

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant (originally published on eHow.com)
In the month of April 2010, the United States spent $25.5 billion on electricity, using a total of 266.3 billion kilowatthours. While those numbers include retail sales to residential, industrial and commercial sectors, household owners have the power to drastically decrease electricity use overall by dropping the residential portion. Home dwellers have many options for reducing their monthly electric bill while simultaneously helping the environment.

By: Molly Rovero, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Designers and scientists have been working on different approaches to transportation issues as they become a greater concern with the ever-growing population. China has begun to address their own issues of overcrowding and transportation with their new concept busses that will drive above cars. Imagine driving through a tunnel that is moving above you!

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
It seems BP has finally begun to make good on weeks of promise to fix the Deepwater Horizon wellhead that has been gushing crude oil into the Gulf Coast. It has taken nearly 3 months for them to initiate a plan that might hold back the oil, but at last, crews worked through the weekend and fitted a new 150,000-pound cap to the wellhead on Monday. They began tests Tuesday, which may take up to 48 hours, to see if the cap will be strong enough to temporarily contain the oil and gases.

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Come fall of 2010, Washington state will begin construction on the U.S.’s first-ever electric highway. All being made possible by a $1.32 million federal grant, 10 level-3 charging stations will line the Interstate-5 at 80-mile intervals, from Oregon to Canada. Electric car commuters—now behind the wheel of newer versions, such as the Leaf and the Volt—will have plenty of leeway along the I-5 before the 100-mile charging range of their vehicle runs out.

On April 21, 2010, the oil rig Deepwater Horizon had a dire malfunction. Both its manual and emergency blowout preventers failed to deploy when the worst-case scenario became a reality. An oil rig blowout has the potential to occur when some combination of mud, oil, natural gas, and water erupt from the well, surge up the drill pipe, and ignite at the surface, exploding into an inferno.